Storming the Kingdom (33 page)

CHAPTER FIFTY - THREE

Storm Day
8:45
A.M.

K
ate dropped her shoes as she was driven back into Hawk’s arms. It took him a moment to register what was happening. Her full body weight slumped against him, and he pulled her back inside the monorail. Cradling her in his arms, he reached up and hit the automatic door button, and the door closed, muffling the sound of the storm.

He caught movement to his right. In the shadows just outside the train station, the dark-haired assassin was looking toward them down the barrel of a rifle.

The window of the door shattered, sending shards of Plexiglas showering down over them. Moving gently, he kept Kate with him and reached up, putting the monorail back into gear. It pulled away from the station and back into the storm. Hawk held Kate with one arm and was keeping the lever of the monorail engaged to get them away from the station. Another shot danced off the side of the monorail car as they moved past the train station, up a slight incline toward the Contemporary.

Kate was shaking. He moved her closer to him. He was trying to get them out of the line of fire. He drove Monorail Blue just inside the opening of the Contemporary Resort before releasing the lever, allowing the monorail to jerk to a stop. An expanding mass of red spread across Kate’s upper body. Horror swallowed him. He ripped off his shirt, and crunching it into a wad of material, tried to apply pressure to the wound.

Her eyes were wide, searching. They locked onto his. “It hurts.”

“I know, just stay still.” Hawk reached for the radio in the monorail.

He clicked the radio and tried to reach someone. No one answered. That was no surprise, the monorails were not supposed to be officially running, so there was not a cast member at the monitoring station. He switched on the emergency radio next to it. There would definitely be someone monitoring it with the storm rattling the world around them. Within seconds, there was an answer, and Hawk put out the call for emergency help.

“Kate.” Hawk leaned in close to her as he continued to hold her in his arms. “Stay with me. Stay with me, Kate.”

“I’m cold.” She shivered slightly. He held her tighter and felt her body shake even harder.

“Come on, help is on the way. Stay with me here. Talk to me,” Hawk whispered.

Kate smiled at him weakly. “You’re a good man, Hawk. I love being with you.”

“Ah, I’m not so good.” Hawk’s tears fell on her face. “I haven’t kept you very safe.”

“This is not the first time I’ve been shot at.” Kate reached up and touched his face. “I’m a journalist, remember? I’ve been in some dangerous places before…this is just…the first time I’ve been hit.”

Her eyes closed. He rocked her just a bit as he heard emergency personnel arriving outside the monorail, which was parked half inside and half outside the Contemporary. He felt her body get heavier, and her hands fall across her midsection.

“Kate?” Hawk waited for a response but got none. “Kate?”

Emergency rescue teams forced open the monorail door and trampled across the Plexiglas on the floor to get to them. One member of the team took Kate from Hawk’s arms and placed her level on the floor of the monorail. Another emergency worker pulled a stunned Hawk to the other side of the car. They began CPR.

The red stain kept creeping across her body. More personnel arrived and kept pouring into the small compartment until the flood of people prevented Hawk from seeing Kate among the bodies surrounding her, trying to take care of her.

“I don’t have her,” a man yelled.

Hawk refused to believe him.

He didn’t think it was possible, but more people arrived to assist in the emergency situation unfolding. Finally Kate was placed on a stretcher and the attendants ran alongside it to an elevator so they could exit the monorail level of the resort.

They were hurrying. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?

Hawk followed them. As he ran, he glanced around him, conscious that the assassin was still out there somewhere.

Crowds lined the balconies on the side of the Contemporary. Guests hearing the commotion, already frightened by the storm, had stepped outside their rooms into open-air hallways that were meant to give a spectacular view of the grand concourse of the resort. They were shocked at today’s view, which was anything but spectacular. In stunned silence, they could see a monorail parked half inside the resort, and they watched as the beehive of activity left through the shattered door of the monorail and a woman drenched in red was rushed away on a stretcher. Behind the stretcher followed a man; most guests recognized the familiar but anxious face of the Chief Creative Architect of the Disney company. This was storm damage they never could have anticipated.

CHAPTER FIFTY - FOUR

Storm Day
11:45
A.M.

C
alm covered the magical land of Walt Disney World for a short time before the eye of the storm passed and the wind and rain returned. Sitting in the darkness of his office in the Bay Lake Towers, Hawk stared out the window as Hurricane Ginger battered the Magic Kingdom. Cinderella Castle and Space Mountain stood against the onslaught, majestic in the midst of mayhem. He had been sitting there in silence, listening to the whistling wind and the rain as it splashed against the window, for a long time.

He had not gone to the hospital in the ambulance. Kate had not lived long enough to make it to the ambulance.

By the time the elevator had reached the bottom floor, she was gone. They had taken her to the hospital, not in a rush to save her life, but as required because she was a shooting victim. There had been no need to rush, no need for any additional heroics to save her life. It had been snatched from her by the same assassin who had been stalking Hawk and all of those he loved for the past week.

His executive office suite was a hub of activity. Law enforcement, Disney security, cast members, and others were swarming the lower floor of the offices. Doing whatever they needed to do, Hawk supposed. No one had been allowed to venture up the stairs to his private office and conference room. The emptiness he was struggling with threatened to swallow him into the black hole of sadness, and in this moment, he just didn’t care. He was tired of fighting, tired of solving mysteries, tired of the secrets, and tired of those around him always being in danger because of him. He cried at times as he sat thinking about Farren, George, and especially Kate. Tears would start burning his eyes and sobs would smother him in a wave of grief. Then the burning tears would flare into white-hot anger.

His wife, his kids, his friends had all been taken because of him. His life and his life choices had managed to rob them of their chance to really live. And now, Kate… for the first time in a long time since the death of his family, he had begun to plan a future with a woman who had reminded him that he could love again. Now she was gone as well. He wished the driving rain could wash away the pain that was tearing through his soul.

A knock on the door brought his mind from a distant place, looking through the window back to the moment. He didn’t turn to see who was there, he simply sat and waited; whoever had come upstairs had come up to check on him.

“May I come in?” a man said behind him.

“Sure.” Hawk motioned slightly with his hand. The voice was familiar, but he didn’t have the energy or the desire to try to identify who it belonged to.

“May I sit?”

“Sit.” Hawk finally looked up to see Sheriff Cal McManus taking the seat next to him.

McManus joined Hawk in looking out the window over the Magic Kingdom as the storm continued to hammer the resort.

“The worst of the storm has passed,” McManus said. “Damage reports are coming in from all over the county. Things are bad. I’m here to get a damage report on you.”

The unique way the sheriff made the statement caused Hawk to turn to face him. He felt a tear trickling down his cheek and wiped it away with his palm. “I’m fine.”

“You are anything but fine,” McManus said softly. “No way you could be fine, but nice try, Dr. Hawkes.” McManus inhaled and exhaled deeply. “I’ve had a chance to look at the reports. You sure it was the same shooter?”

Hawk nodded as he turned back to the window.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” McManus reached over and patted Hawk on the arm. “I understand that you and Kate Young were making plans for your future.”

Hawk squinted as he felt his eyes begin to burn. Again he nodded.

The other man gave him some time to regroup, then he cleared his throat. “We’ll get the man who did this. We’ve been doing some digging, and although it’s still just a theory, we have an insider who leads us to believe that even though he is in prison, Reginald Cambridge is very much involved in this plot against you.” McManus looked out the window once again. “Your red hanky group managed to help us round up Douglas Hall and some other Disney cast members who were trying to hurt you. Mr. Hall and his crew aren’t talking very much yet. It isn’t clear how they’re connected to Cambridge, and we still have not gotten a clear connection from Cambridge to Kiran Roberts. But we’ll figure it out.”

“I can help you there,” Hawk said flatly. “Kiran Roberts isn’t connected to Reginald. At least she isn’t anymore. She’s running her own operation.”

“There was enough explosive power in the Red Monorail to blow apart the train, the track, and most anything that would have been close. Are you saying
she
is trying to kill you as well? With her own plan and plot?” McManus furrowed his brow.

“Yep.” Hawk nodded and turned back toward McManus. “Two groups trying to kill me and anyone close to me.”

“Then we’ll stop that group as well,” McManus said resolutely. “And we’ll keep you safe.”

“How about keeping the people I know safe, Sheriff?” Hawk reached out and placed his hand on the sheriff’s shoulder. He gave it a squeeze. “For myself, safety is nowhere on my radar.”

“Well, Hawk…why don’t you let me see if I can keep all of you safe?”

“No sir, we’ve tried that.” Hawk shifted forward in his chair. “Somehow, these groups managed to infiltrate my security, your protection, and no matter how I tried to play it…allowing security to tag along to protect me, or whether I was going it alone…no one was ever safe.”

“You have not made it easy to protect you.” McManus’s voice grew stern.

“It’s not easy to protect me, because the people who are trying to kill me are operating with an agenda that is impossible to predict.” Hawk tried to smile. “It has always been impossible to protect me.”

“I’m sure we can keep you safe from here on out.”

“You don’t understand.” Hawk made his voice more serious. “I don’t want you or need you to keep me safe. Like I said, keep the people I know safe, that’s all I need.”

“I don’t like the implications of what you are saying.” McManus stood. “I can place you under a house arrest or a protective custody to keep you and others out of harm’s way.”

“But you won’t. You have too many others things to take care of. In just a few hours, we’re officially post storm, and then the cleanup begins. You’re stretched too thin to babysit someone like me.” Hawk shook his hand. “Thanks for coming by.”

“What are they after? Why are these people trying to kill you?”

“It’s hard to keep and protect a secret when you don’t know what the secret really is.” Hawk released McManus’ hand. “That is what is so disturbing about all of this. They don’t know what the secret is any more than I do. However, trust me when I tell you, I am the only one who can find it.”

“Your friends are downstairs. I told them they couldn’t come up until we were done talking. Is it alright with you if they come up?” McManus paused in the doorway.

“If you wouldn’t mind, ask my friend Shep to come upstairs. If you could get everyone to wait a few minutes, I’d like to talk with him first.”

“Sure, I can do that.” McManus disappeared through the doorway.

Hawk took his seat back in front of the window and breathed deeply. Closing his eyes, he saw Kate’s face, could see her laughing, and then could see the look in her eyes just before she closed them for the last time. He closed his eyes tighter, trying to will the image out of his mind. He could not.

“Hey, boss, how are you doing?” Shep said as he entered the room.

“It’s tough,” Hawk admitted as he motioned to the open chair next to him.

Shep sat down as McManus had and looked out at the normally spectacular view of the Magic Kingdom, now covered in clouds, wind, and rain dancing across and drenching the unforgettable landscape. Neither man spoke for a few moments. There was a tension in the air. Hawk couldn’t tell if it was real or just his imagination. He was about to say something that made his heart sink, and he knew that once it was said, he could never take it back.

“Why’d you do it, Shep?” Hawk didn’t look at him when he said it. He kept looking out the window.

“Sorry, what’s that, boss?” Shep’s tone went just a bit higher.

“I said”—Hawk turned toward him and lowered his voice—“I asked, why’d you do it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Shep leaned away from Hawk.

Hawk shook his head. “I think you do. What I want to know is why.”

“I know you’re upset,” Shep said, trying to stay calm. “I would be too, it’s been a rough week for all of us.”

“But for some reason unknown to me, you decided to make mine rougher.” Hawk glared at him. “I have to admit, it took me a while to figure it out. I really didn’t slow down long enough to put the pieces together until just a little while ago. But sitting here, watching the storm, thinking about this past week…about Farren, about George, and mostly about Kate…it dawned on me that it was you.”

“Me? I didn’t . . .” Shep shifted nervously in his seat.

“It was the only thing that made sense. The thing you did that gave it away was when I went to Discovery Island. It was you that cut loose my boat and left me stranded there.”

“Why would I do that?” Sweat beaded on Shep’s forehead.

“That is what I still don’t completely understand. But you had to have done it, because you were the only person who knew I was at Discovery Island. And then when Kiran showed up to pick me up, out of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere… then it clicked even louder. You told her where I was. You were helping her.”

“But—”

“You were with me in my apartment the first time I saw Kiran. She knew I was there because you told her I was there. When I just happened to look out the window and see her, that almost blew her plans and exposed you right then.” Hawk held a finger in front of his lips when he saw Shep getting ready to speak. He had more to say. Hawk noticed Juliette out of the corner of his eye. She was stepping into the doorway but stopped as she heard them speaking. “Shep, Kiran kept telling me that she was always close, very close, and she kept showing up at the most opportune moments. You were letting her know where I was and what I was doing.”

“Hawk, I did it . . .” Shep said, clearly rattled.

“I know you did it,” Hawk growled. “And then you reacted so oddly after the incident with my car and the fight at the Tower of Terror. When I figured out there was more than one group after me, you said out loud…‘That can’t be.’ See, as I was putting all these pieces together, you were helping Kiran, but she wasn’t keeping you informed, was she?”

“I did it to protect you.”

Hawk was on his feet, and with his movement illuminated in a flash of lighting, he grabbed Shep by the shirt and jerked him up out of the chair. Hands clenching the fabric of his clothing, Hawk swung him ferociously against the picture window and pinned him against the glass. Forcing his fists upward, he lifted Shep off his feet.

“Hawk!” Juliette yelled as she raced across the room toward them. “Let him go, this has to be a mistake.”

“You heard him.” Hawk did not release his grip. “He did it, he said he did it. He said he did it to protect me.” Now Hawk turned his attention back to Shep. “But while you were trying to
protect
me by helping Kiran, you were really helping her to follow me, steal what I had found, and try to kill me and Kate. Kate is
dead
, Shep!”

Juliette managed to wedge herself awkwardly between the two men, her friends, who had suddenly become bitter enemies. “There has to be more to the story, Hawk. This has been a horrible day, you aren’t thinking clearly. This doesn’t make sense.” Now that Shep was standing back on the floor, she motioned for him to return to the chair and for Hawk to let him go. “Shep, what is he talking about?”

Jonathan had heard the commotion as he was positioned on the stairway downstairs. He rushed into the room to see the scene unfolding in front of him and moved in to help break up the fight alongside Juliette. Shep, shaking, returned to his chair. Hawk stood in front of him, waiting for the explanation. Juliette held her position, standing between Hawk and Shep. Jonathan moved to stand behind Shep’s chair.

“I was trying to protect you.” Shep looked at Hawk. “I promise. It was after that night at the hospital. You and Juliette had been in the car with Farren when he was killed. An assassin had tried to get to you in the hospital—in the hospital…that’s nuts. We had never faced anything like this before since you got that key from Farren. Farren was already dead, they had targeted you, and then later, they killed George Colmes.”

“Yes, I was there.” Hawk tensed. “Tell me what I don’t know.”

“The next day, I got a call…from Kiran Roberts. She asked if I remembered her. Of course I did. She asked how you were. I lied and said you were fine. Then she proceeded to tell me about all of the things that had just happened. Things that she couldn’t know but she did. She told me that Reginald Cambridge had put together a team, and this time they would not stop until you and everyone close to you were dead. They wanted what you had.”

“And then?” Juliette asked.